Amul all set to stir up soup mart

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation (Amul) is all set to stir up the Indian soup mart, at present dominated by multinationals, with an innovation. Its soups, branded Amul, will be sold in tetrapacks -- unlike the aluminium packs of rivals.

The variants that are being test marketed include tomato, vegetable and sweet corn soups. Nestle's Maggi which pioneered the branded packaged soup market is the leader in the category followed by Knorr, now owned by Hindustan Lever.

Industry sources say that Indians drink close to 22 million litres of soup every year, but the share of packaged soup is as low as 0.5 million litres.

Soups are still not a part of a household's regular monthly purchase list and still fall between the multi-purchase and impulse-purchase category, analysts said.

The biggest deterrent for soup manufacturers, however, is that Indians, by and large, do not follow the concept of having an appetiser before a meal.